Type attributes

Types can be defined with meta-data information.

Syntax

In type specifications, the attributes-list clause is:
{ ATTRIBUTE | ATTRIBUTES } ( attribute [ = "value" ] [,...] )
  1. attribute is the name of a definition attribute.
  2. value is the value for the definition attribute, it is optional for boolean attributes.

Basics

Types can be defined with the ATTRIBUTES() clause, to specify meta-data information for the elements used in the type.

To specify metadata information when defining a type, use the ATTRIBUTES in the type specification used to defined the TYPE:
TYPE t_item_id INTEGER ATTRIBUTES(json_name="Item Id")

Type attributes can be specified on primitive types like INTEGER, and on complex structures like records, records, arrays, dictionaries.

When defining attributes for complex types, the ATTRIBUTES clause must be specified right after the complex type keywords:
TYPE t_uuids DYNAMIC ARRAY ATTRIBUTES(json_name="uuid-list") OF STRING
TYPE t_customer RECORD ATTRIBUTES(json_name = "customer-record")
          ...
       END RECORD

JSON serialization attributes

To define JSON serialization options, use variable definition attributes such as json_null and json_name:
TYPE t_rec RECORD
   cust_id INTEGER ATTRIBUTES(json_null="null"),
   cust_name INTEGER ATTRIBUTES(json_name="Customer Name"),
   ...
   orderlist DYNAMIC ARRAY ATTRIBUTES(json_null="undefined") OF RECORD
      ...
      END RECORD,
   ...
 END RECORD
List of supported JSON attributes for variable definitions:
  • json_null (values can be "null" or "undefined")
  • json_name

For more details about JSON serialization attributes see BDL names and JSON element names.

XML serialization attributes

Type attributes are also used when defining variables for XML-based Web Services: 
TYPE t_data RECORD
     val1 INTEGER ATTRIBUTES(XMLName="Value1"),
     val2 STRING ATTRIBUTES(XMLName="Value2"),
     attr INTEGER ATTRIBUTES(XMLAttribute,XMLName="MyAttr")
END RECORD

For more details about XML attributes, see Attributes to customize XML serialization.